North Kitsap Herald

Man charged in Walmart syringe incident

POULSBO — A Kingston man has been charged with allegedly placing a syringe in a sausage at Poulsbo's Walmart.

Daniel Oaks Thieman, 33, has been charged with malicious mischief and placing a harmful object in food.

Thieman was arrested Oct. 26 in Hansville, one day after Walmart's security cameras reportedly captured him meddling with packages of meat at the Poulsbo grocery in the early morning hours of Oct. 25. A customer would later report finding a syringe in a sausage where Thieman was seen. The syringe appeared unused and dry, however, the needle was missing. Employees worried that a needle could have broken off in a package of meat. In response to the incident, Walmart completely removed and replaced all meat products in the store — an area with 80 feet of refrigerated meat, containing four or five rows.

A little over $19,000 of product was ultimately removed from the shelves.

Thieman told arresting officers that what he did was "ridiculously stupid," according to the police report on the arrest. He reportedly said that he jabbed the syringe into the sausage because the syringe it had no needle and he wanted to get rid of it. He further noted that he was sleep deprived and coming off of heroin at the time. He said that he didn't place the syringe as a prank or to hurt people, rather, he just wasn't thinking about the consequences of his action.

Before he was booked into Kitsap County Jail, Thieman had to be cleared by a local hospital. His index finger appeared swollen as a result of recent heroin use. Thieman told officers that he injects heroin into his wrists.

Thieman is currently in the Kitsap County Jail. Bail has been set at $250,000 for the sausage incident, and $5,000 for an unrelated case.

Thieman went into Walmart with a woman who was also caught on camera, allegedly placing store merchandise into her purse. She was intercepted by a store employee who told her to empty her purse and leave. That person has not been charged.